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Feb 14, 2019

Thursday, February 14 2019 Bruce Haight

Theme: Tool Box - all the answers around the edge of the puzzle are tools, as the reveal explains:

35A. Takes a casual drive ... and a literal description of 10 puzzle answers: TOOLS AROUND

In clockwise order, starting from the top left:

1A. Queen, e.g.: RULER. Measure twice, cut once.

6A. Fell for the joke: BIT.

9A. Put away for future reference: FILE. I'm terrible at filing; if I file something away I'm almost guaranteed to forget about it.

16D. Work (out) with effort, as an agreement: HAMMER ... closely followed by ..

45D. Swindle: CHISEL

63A. Fire __: DRILL

62A. Spied: SAW

61A. Laryngitis symptom: RASP

37D. Polo need: MALLET

1D. Wi-Fi conduit: ROUTER. Any network, as a matter of fact, not just a wireless one.
Nice theme from Bruce today. Even with the puzzle completed it took me a few beats to notice all the tools around the edge of the puzzle, I was looking for entries with a tool wrapped "around" the word at first. The trick of this theme is to clue the entries other than referencing the tool itself. The only one which comes close to breaking this rule is the MALLET entry - a polo mallet is very close to the tool.

Some fresh entries in the fill including TURNOVERS, USB DRIVES, CK ONE and UPRATE. Let's see what else we've got to discuss:

Across:

13. ArkivMusic.com purchase: OPERA. "The source for classical music" according to their website.

14. Sch. with a Tempe campus: A.S.U. Arizona State.

15. Flooded: AWASH

17. "Little Book of Mind-Power" author: URI GELLER. Didn't take long to guess this one once the UR was in place. Huckster of the highest order, this chap. Pretended to bend spoons all with the power of his mind.

19. Battery inventor Alessandro: VOLTA. I wonder why "volt" dropped the final "a"? After all, Ohm and Ampère kept their last letters. We should be told.

20. Stand food: TACO

21. Danish city named for a Norse god: ODENSE. Not ODESSA then, as I confused myself.

23. Place for a shot: ARM

24. Gate info: E.T.A. Estimated Time of Arrival. An aircraft arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time is considered to be "on time". Incidentally, departure time is when you push back from the gate, so as long as you're off the gate, you've departed on time, even if you then spend an hour getting de-iced and another hour waiting in line to take off.

25. Conversation stumbles: ERS, along with ahs, ums and fillers "you know", "kind of" and all the other irritants.

26. Gives the nod: OK'S

27. Hasty escape: LAM. Interesting, I'd not seen the verb form like this before, I was more familiar with "on the lam".

28. Superman specialty: RESCUE

30. Wrigley Field feature: IVY. Baseball's famous Chicago landmark. If a ball gets stuck in the ivy, it's ruled a double; a runner at first can't advance beyond third base.

31. Like beds in cleaned hotel rooms: MADE

32. Peter of "9-1-1": KRAUSE. Crosses all the way. He's been seen a lot on TV, but I don't think he ever crossed my path of consciousness:

34. Tunisian currency: DINAR

37. Bearings: MIENS

39. Casual eatery: BISTRO

40. Ending to avoid?: -ANCE. I'm not a big fan of these types of fill, neither the suffix nor the prefix variants. There's a prefix example at 59A also.

41. Interject: ADD

42. Touchdown site: TARMAC

46. "Well, __-di-dah!": LAH

47. Shooting initials: SLR

48. "Jeopardy!" record-setter Jennings: KEN

49. Spa emanation: AAH

50. Source of some '60s trips: LSD

51. 1840s-'50s home to Liszt: WEIMAR

53. End of an old boast: VICI

54. Military camp: ÉTAPE. Specifially, a place to camp after a day's march. Étape is also used to describe a day's stage in a cycle race, particularly le Tour de France.

56. Luxury accommodations for bigwigs: VIP SUITES

58. Church offering: TITHE

59. Prefix with warrior: ECO-

60. 1960 Wimbledon champ Fraser: NEALE. More crosses. I'd never heard of this chap, but he's got a very impressive grand slam tournament record, not just at Wimbledon. He won the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, doubles at all four majors, and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. Not bad for an amateur!

Down:

2. Raise from three to four stars, as a hotel: UPRATE. I like the word. I've seen it used more in a performance-improvement context, but it works for me here too.

62 comments:

FIWrong. CcONE + LOREeL + cReUSE. L'OREAL I've sen advertised enough, but got the spellig wrong. The other two were both unknowns, out of my wheelhouse. Also missed the theme unti I read the reveal. Noticed HAMMER/MALLET, but missed the significance of the others.

U.S.B. DRIVES are not MADE on Earth.The first two ways you plug it in never work.An ultra-dimensional planeIs all that can explainHow the third of two sides fits its berth.

TURN OVER a rock and you'll findUgly bugs of all wriggly kinds.While they're IN A STIR,Put the rock where it were,That's where souls of dead politicians are confined!

A BALDING ostrich from Upper VOLTATends to be an extremely messy molt'a.AWASH in its feathersOur cleaning endeavorsInvolve SWEEPING them where we're not s'pposed'a

Living in Florida, and learning the company has been around since 1974, I am more embarrassed to not know <TECH DATA but it was news to me. I also did not know Peter of "9-1-1": KRAUSE neither the show, nor the actor. Another "learning" moment was ArkivMusic.com though I doubt I will ever buy any opera music. I enjoyed the LA LA LAND cso so close to Linda's birthday.

Not a single rose or heart...Happy birthday to our onetime Valentine Marti and to all the intelligent, wonderful beautiful women who are part of the Corner, and especially our leader C.C. and my sweet wife a very Happy Valentine's Day.

I never noticed all the TOOLS on the perimeter while completing the puzzle but I usually don't try to figure out themes, only fill the squares. And if I see a clue such as 35A, I avoid reading it because it makes the puzzle easier if it is solved before the rest.

But it was a DNF two days in a row. I misspelled LOREAL as LOREIL (sloppy handwriting) and guessed CRUISE. I'd never heard of KRAUSE or the show "911", and guessed Coco Chanel had a fragrance C.C.ONE. CK ONE-unknown to me.

TECHDATA- Steve, you're not the only one who had never heard of it. It was all perps.URI GELLER- heard the name before but it was perped.ETA- I've NEVER seen it on a flight schedule at an airport; it's always ARRWEIMAR- didn't know but it was an easy guess.BIT- I hate it when I break a small tool BIT and end up having to buy a whole set just to replace one bit

Steve-ALL the tennis players were amateurs until 1968. Rod Laver turned pro and wasn't allowed to play in the Majors for seven years. The players got tired of doing all the work while the Clubs (Wimbledon & Forest Hills) made all the money. Remember when there was a tennis (and golf) season? It ended with the US Open and really didn't start up again until Spring. The 'amateurs' (they were really pros) supposedly went to work at their real jobs to earn a living.

FIR, but it feels like a DNF because I missed Bruce's very clever "toolbox" gambit until I checked in with Steve. Erased nra for SLR, nikons for LEICAS, and reRATE for UPRATE. The Caterpillar diesel in our motor home will DErate itself if it gets in trouble (high temp, low oil pressure, etc). That leaves just enough power to limp to the repair shop.

My ROUTER uses WiFi for WAN access. That allows me to set up my DVR, Roku, laptop and printer to the router, then use a campground or other WiFi when available and my phone's mobile hotspot feature when others aren't available.

Like D-O, I changed my home router and range extenders for an Orbi and love it. Big (3 floors + basement) old (105 years old) houses are hard to connect with pre-mesh equipment.

Kind of an IT subtheme today with BIT, FILE, ROUTER, USB DRIVES and TECH DATA.

Thanks for the fun exercise, Bruce. My favorite was "Pierre's bills" for EUROS. Had me going for far too long. And thanks to Steve for the fun tour. Sorry there wasn't any food today.

What Bob said FIR with a few look ups and WAGS that ended up right. Caught on to the TOOLSAROUND after seeing HAMMER CHISEL + FILE. First fill was ASU - knew Tempe - went golfing at the nine hole Salomar course on thursdays a few winters ago . Cheers

I liked the way the tools ran in a box around the edges of the puzzle. Most of this puzzle went quickly. I had to change Ari Teller to Uri Geller to set up the NW. My hangup was in the middle of the west coast because I spelled MIEN as MEIN. Seeing it in print, it becomes obvious. I before E except after C and other exceptions. too. That gave me 38 D, IN, and 40 A, ANCE to finish that section. Perps supplied -RAUSE and Krause was the only recognizable name that fit. Finally the E in ANCE gave me CK ONE and the TA DA. We have had CK ONE before. Now I will associate it with Calvin Klein and not be stumped again.KRAUSE, TECH DATA and NEALE were the only unknowns, but perps and wags sufficed.I used to confuse Odessa in the Ukraine and Odense in Denmark. Now I remember reading about the vacation dachas in Odessa on the Black Sea. After visiting Denmark I can picture Odense on the map of Denmark. Also, I read a true thriller about the Danish resistance movement where Odense was featured. Wikipedia says,"Despite great personal risk, the Danish resistance movement, with the assistance of many Danish citizens, managed to evacuate 7,220 of Denmark's 7,800 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden." This matches with the novel I read.RERATE before UPRATE. My FAVE was What's up for SKY.Thanks for the interesting review, Steve.Happy Valentine's day to all the virtual family here, men and women. I am fond of you all. Happy Valentine's Day to the lurkers, too. You are welcome to join us any time.

FIR but guessed at URI GELLER, WEIMAR, und CK ONE. UND was the only 3 letter German conjunction I could quickly think of. Did not see how the theme worked until reading Steve's intro. But the TOOL fills were easy. Some typical puzzle fill like VIER and ETAPE.UND - Germans abbreviate it a lot to u. I don't really see the point of that as one is only saving the insertion of one letter. So the efficiency quotient of the abbreviation is quite small. (Not like bo's'n.)

Good morning. Thank you Bruce and Steve. Happy Valentines Day to all !

Didn't notice the theme until the reveal.You didn't have to be an XTULMKR to recognize each of the tools.Didn't know KRAUSE but knew CK ONE. Didn't know NEALE but each perp was solid. Not familiar with TECH DATA.First spelled ODENSE as ODENSK. That's where Hans Christian Anderson was born. Semi-CSO to Dudley at "Touchdown site"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning. I'd hammer in the evening...A poor craftsman blames his tools.I sense a "No Mas" reference coming. Jinx, I think Steve had a TACO and TURNOVERS for food at the BISTRO today. Hmm, maybe I'll pick up a package of puff pastry for this weekend.

I could easily relate to this week's intro in A Word A Day. I feel compelled to share it.

"To redo is to do again, but to react does not mean to act again. Illogical is the opposite of logical, but illustrate is not the opposite of lustrate.

Welcome to the English language! Trying to find logic in language, any language, is futile. Thousands of years of human use has produced a contraption that does a job, but looks and works like it’s held together with chewing gum and baling wire. (You mean to tell me the word colonel has an R sound? About half the letters in the spelling of the word knowledge are just for show?)"

Well, Mr. Haight continues his wordplay trickery (and diversion tactics) with this very clever and satisfying solve. It was not a walk in the park, by any means, due to several unknowns: Odense, Volta, Krause, Neale, and Tech Data, but perps were fair, for the most part. My w/os were Royal/Ruler and Lauder/L'Oreal. Hanging onto Lauder for far too long caused much angst in that section but, finally, after I changed Tours Around to Tools Around, everything fell into place. That's when I figured out the various tools around the sides and smiled. Talk about an Aha moment! My favorite C/As were: Shooting initials=SLR and What's up?=Sky. Unlike Steve, I wasn't keen on Up rate but agree on Balds and would add Vier, as well, as so so fill. Nice CSO to Lucina at ASU.

Thanks, Bruce, for keeping us on our toes and thanks, Steve, for the fun tour.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.

FLN

billocohoes, thanks for the Nipper photo. He was my work day watch dog for 16 years.

YR, my favorites are "inability" and "inflammability". BTW, I have been called out for saying "the Ukraine", but since you use it it must be OK. A Grammar Policewoman once told me it was like saying "the Canada".

TTP - I guess some consider tacos to be food. A lot of restaurants in Norfolk have Taco Tuesday specials. Servers call it "cat night". They claim that's for "Cheap-Ass Tacos", and I do hope there isn't a less pleasant implication. But I did miss TURNOVERS. YUM! Can't eat a bistro, though.

Musings-The 9 o’clock position cost me two bad cells. I got MIENS, had no idea on the proper nouns and had A SAD ending to avoid-FIRE DRILLS on very cold days meant someone set it off on purpose or by accident. BTW, kids say “on accident” :-(-Me too, guys, this is our new ROUTERhas a satellite unit and my WI FI is now very strong now out here in my sun room-Young clerk in bakery this morning had a wrist to shoulder ARM tattoo honoring her uncle-The WEIMAR Republic was a breeding ground for the Nazi takeover-Problems with even MADE beds in a VIP SUITE Yuk!-HGTV recently featured people searching for homes in Vietnam and Okinawa but not IWO JIMA-Present tense - I SAY, I SAY-A SWEEP by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals this year is very possible

Jinx, thanks for pointing out that The Ukraine is incorrect. Apparently I am almost 30 years behind the times, 1991, to be exact. Your grammar policewoman is correct this time. Not The Ukraine

We like tacos at our house, but prefer homemade to Taco Bell's We use fresh ground meat, fresh tomatoes and lettuce, spices and freshly grated cheese. We buy the shells and heat them up, as does a Mexican friend. We use way more meat than Taco Bell does.

Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and Steve.I needed one Google help to give me the W in WEIMAR, which gave me SWEEP for the Tada.I got the theme part-way through the CW which helped to fill in those TOOLS all AROUND the perimeter. Clever!

I waited for perps for ODENSE. I wanted Odenske but there was no room for the K.VOLTA was an EWAG. (I wanted Volte until HAMMER forced the A.)Many other unknowns like URI GELLER, KRAUSE, NEALE, TECH DATA, ArkivMusic.com. CK ONE, were answered by the perps. Sign of a good CW.

Hand up for NRA before SLR. Wrong type of shooting. But we did have LEICAS also to nudge us in the right direction.We have had LAM in verb form previously but it still seems odd to me.Apparently ETAPE is an archaic meaning for "military camp". Perps again.

Yes, I smiled at the CSO for LaLaLinda. (We had LAH also)TTP - thanks for pointing out the CSO to XTULMKR.

Massive rain here in southern California this morning and so no newspaper was delivered (yet). It's available online, but although I tried and tried, I just can't get the puzzle printed or capable of being worked on the screen. Each time I try printing another part of the newspaper, not the puzzle, gets printed. So, am not sure I can do it today, but will keep trying.

I started with my alma mater, ASU, then the NE blossomed all the way down. I didn't notice the TOOLS until 35A then checked the edges and there they all were except in the NW.

URIGELLER stumped me completely and had to LIU and I wasn't sure about Peter KRAUSE though I had all but the K and CKONE didn't make sense. OH, CK ONE. I don't use those fragrances, only Carolina Herrera and White Shoulders.

TACO/LEICAS was the only fill for a long time then ERGO. Finally it all came together.

I always make my own, fry the corn tortillas, use either leftover steak or ground beef and fresh lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. I also make my own hot sauce. There are reportedly more tacos served in the U.S. than in Mexico.

I liked seeing DURAN and ESTRADA as well as LALA which was my mother's nickname.

Favorite clues were for SKY and EUROS.

Thank you, Steve; what do you think about TACOS? You usually are quite vocal about food so I'm curious.

Misty, have you tried The Washington Post site for the puzzle? I do it every morning on my iPad, or I can print it out.Happy Valentine’s Day to all, from a very rainy Arizona. FYIArizona became the 48th state on this day in 1912!

Yuman, thank you for the suggestion. I googled The Washington Post and saw the links to all the sections and articles but found no link to the crossword puzzle, I'm afraid. So still not able to do it--but I appreciated your suggestion.

I usually like Bruce Haight's puzzles and this was no exception. I almost didn't make it through the CKONE/KRAUSE/MIENS/ANCE/TECHDATA minefield but made some lucky guesses. I still don't see what "Bearings" and MIENS have to do with each other, but will look it up. I have to say, my nose wrinkled big time at VIER, even though I understand "one who vies" could be termed a vier. I'm not saying it's wrong, so please don't quote dictionaries at me; I'm just saying I didn't like it much. My nose also wrinkled at BALDS. Yes, I do understand that sometimes a little glue is required in constructing a puzzle. This was, IMO, a good puzzle.

Both of our grandchildren grew up in Tempe and are ASU graduates.

I love well-made tacos. Some of the best tacos I ever enjoyed were at various little hole-in-the-wall joints in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.

YR, an occasional error just shows you are human. A 99.9999% of the time correct human, but human. I liked the link.

Lucina, I do like soft-shell tacos. But when I get a combo that has a traditional taco, I just dump the filling into something, usually the salad. I guess it's odd that I like chimichangas as much as burritos.

Misty, here's the URL where I get the CW: http://games.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword/

I make a hard copy there every day, and it hasn't failed in weeks. You have to watch a 15 second video. If it doesn't work you may have to make an exception in your ad blocker.

Lucina, I don't like the crunchy shell. Weird - I like salsa and crunchy chips, made from either corn or wheat. My taste buds are about as consistent as the English language! Another thing is that I love fajitas, but don't make little burritos like normal people. I use a knife and fork and use the tortillas as pushers.

I used to eat tamales at a wonderful restaurant in LA, near the boarder of San Fernando and Pacoima. When I would go in they would call out the employee who spoke English. I'll bet yours are even better than theirs. Their regulars would preorder them by the dozen around the holidays.

Becky, you are clearly a classy broad who can make being chewed up and spit out sound fancy.Now you understand I came to be here 10 years ago trying to explain an answer I knew was correct but did not know why. I do not remember, and I was not yet Lemonade the first day.Of course, once it was explained, I felt like an idiot.

A very clever theme - well executed by Mr. Haight!But, typically, I wasn't aware of it while in the throes of solving. I did well enough w/o the "help" of the TOOLS AROUND hint. I just needed a couple of national emergencies to break into the more opaque sectors, and so count this as a job well done. It seemed daunting at first but really only needed to get past a lot of smart-alec cluing.

No newspaper again, Misty. This is getting to be a sorry joke. Our old carrier has been replaced, but the new one seems rain-averse. I wonder if I would do better to subscribe to the Sunday-only option? That might allow me to access the digital edition every day--and, as far as the paper version goes, only be disappointed once a week.~ OMK____________DR: One diagonal today, NW to SE. It delivers a choice anagram for students of the drama. For those like me who prefer a longer and more complex storyline than most contemporary two- and three-act plays deliver, today's anagram harkens back to Gustav Freyer's, Die Technik des Dramas (1890), which provides a detailed analysis of the classic five-act structure. From Incitement to Denouement, Freyer provides us with the twists & turns of a richer and ..."VASTER PLOTLINE"!

Misty ~ Sorry your delivery was down today too.Printing the LA Times digital Xwd is tricky. If you try to print using the select feature, it can take forever for the robot to leaf through all the "pages." I find it works to size the Xwd to fit your screen and then take a "screen shot"--a photo of the screen--and print that.Be sure your photo is detailed enough to print the clues clearly. Before you print, be sure to upgrade the photo (increase the dpi & sharpen the image). ~ OMK

When somebody asks "What's up"? I usually answer "Prices". It's almost always true.

Here's another good example of how refusing to watch TV commercials puts one at a disadvantage in doing crossword puzzles. I've definitely never heard of CK One and couldn't even imagine that as the name of anything. I suppose I've heard of L'Oreal but, having LORE, couldn't come up with the right ending, partly because I couldn't think of Peter KRAUSE. Seeing his picture and repeating the name reminded me of his character in the first one of the great Aaron Sorkin's TV shows I saw, Sports Night. He was much younger then (as was I).

I know something about Liszt, but certainly not where he lived at any particular time. Also wasn't aware that Weimar was a place - only that the Weimar Republic was one of Germany's failed attempts at post WW-I government. Also had no hope of knowing the name of a 1960 champ at anything.

Husker @1026 - In addition to "on accident" I've been hearing a lot of (mostly young) people saying "all of THE sudden". Strange but not as bad to my ear as "where you're AT" or "my mother took my sister and I (or myself) to the store". Or to my eyes as people wearing baseball caps backward. And leaving them on in restaurants. And adding apostrophe s to random plural words.

Jace @1340 I'm with you on BALDS and VIER. Bleh. Otherwise a good, challenging puzzle with an especially clever and well executed theme.

Jinx:You are certainly entitled to your opinions and your tastes! Thank you for explaining. I am accustomed to the traditional Hispanic food since that is how I was reared. My mother, as I'm sure I've said here many times, was a fabulous cook and everything she made was utterly delicious.

During Lent when meat was not allowed, we usually had tostadas so I love the crunchiness of the corn tortillas. Her tacos were amazing and she loved to have a big crowd come and enjoy dinner. Sometimes she would just call us all and tell us she was cooking something or other and we should come to eat. We did.

Ol'Man Keith, I do get the LA Times in my Inbox every day. Thanks for the advice on the puzzle and I know how to make it large, but don't know how to do a "screen shot," unfortunately. Hopefully, if it's not too rainy tomorrow we'll get our papers again.

Misty ~On my iMac, I take a screen shot by pressing Command-Shift-4. Then I outline the desired portion with my mouse and click it. If you have a PC, you should have a "Print Screen" button (PrtSc) right after the F12 button. Press your Windows button (Win) at the same time as PrtSc, and this will print your entire screen. If this doesn't work, try pressing fn or ctrl at the same time as the others. You'll probably want to crop the image before printing it. ~ OMK

I’ve been having trouble getting the puzzle to print on the LA Times website as well so I googled LA Times Crossword and found a link to it from the Chicago Tribune. I often have to print the puzzle because someone has been snatching my paper �� I hope they are looking for a job in the ads and find one soon and leave my paper alone ��

Bruce, you got me again. The puzzle was hard-sussin' fun (I liked your title Steve) but I left both the K and the N out of CK ONE. I noticed the theme and it helped in the NW and SE corners. A swell offering, Thanks.

Misty - Lucina beat me to it (but I have a link :-)) when you want a printed puzzle go to Mensa's site (requires Flash, so, for iThings, use Yuman's or Lem's links).

Lucina - Amen Sister. Taco Bell is NOT Mexican nor Tex-Mex fare. Jinx, I'm a fan of the soft-shell corn or flour ones over "crunch" too; I always seem to crack the hard-shells too much and end-up wearing half the fillings.

OMK - That was the funniest line of the day..." and, as far as the paper version goes, only be disappointed once a week." Thank you.As for those who sac'd the carrier, has have also been sac'd [Python 3:50]*DR is a stretch :-)

I knew URI GELLER. He's sometimes mentioned with awe on the Crazy People Show (which is why I call CoastToCoastAM that).

Mike S. I often add apostrophe s but usually it's on accident.

//I'll see myself out :-)Cheers, -T*I was talking to a buddy how this would never work today because of kids consume movies (on their iPhones). He said his son kept "hitting the jump-forward 15-seconds button."What are you doing?"Skipping the credits"No, those are part of the movie and funny!

Mien and bearing can both refer to a person's appearance or demeanor. There are slightly different nuances to these words. Most likely they are second order synonyms. Dictionaries could explain that, but dictionaries do not speak to likes and dislikes. We all know words we do not much care for..

FIR with WAGs on the CK ONE and KRAUSE. It helped that I knew CK Noir. And nothing else fit. I had a strange brain freeze on USB. Universal Serial Bus. I'll leave it to Anon-T to talk Bus. Mainframe world, right -T?I knew I'd know NEALE Fraser when I got a perp or two. The Boston Globe had a dedicated Tennis writer*. And looking up his name I came upon this (Misty take note:'Once, when an interviewer persisted in drawing comparisons between Nabokov and Joyce, he [Nabokov]replied, “Oh, yes, let people compare me to Joyce by all means, but my English is patball to Joyce’s champion game.” '**

This was no walk in the park for me. It got easier as I moved south. Jinx , just because there's no feline critters hanging around TB... There's no rats either. I'd be more worried about the Chinese restaurants

HG, I beg to differ. Several girls in my HS class got pregnant from toilet seats. Take their word for it.

NBA talk,? Another separate post. But, I think you meant Weimar was the interim Government between the Kaiser and Hitler. "Winter" by LEN Deighton is a good historical novel of that period.

Misty you have to save the file before printing it. And, I just started watching golf and it sure is raining out your way.

WC

* Bud Collins. The Globe even had a yachting writer who later invented a column of criticism of sports media. ** Nabokov talking Tennis

" I started writing ether ("the air") as my WiFi conduit." Good one -TMIEN of course is French as in le mien= Mine. I better check. OED thinks it comes from French"Demeanor" which is also a synonym for mien, bearing etc

Bored? Good let's talk NBA Warriors. They have a guy, Cousins whom they're bringing along slowly. With him they can field five all-stars. I would give them an even chance of repeating. Too many good teams and East is no walk over.

Thank you all, OMK, Lucina, AnonT, Wlbur, and Zoe. If I don't get the paper tomorrow I'll try your various suggestions and hope one of them works to let me print the puzzle. It's really sad not to have an LA Times crossword puzzle to discuss with all you guys in the morning. Thanks again!